Notice how different she looks when I add the hair. I kept the forehead shape as it was hooked in the last post. I may decide to soften that later.
I removed the one holding line I had hooked in the first step because the shape of the line was not quite right. I concentrated on value when I chose scraps of wool out of my scrap bin. The right side of her head (the left side as you look at it) is rug hooked in cool dark colors, using a lot of blue and purple. A bit of green was added also.
The other side is hooked in oranges and reds with some green. Here I chose values that are a bit lighter.
Notice that I have the dark skin value where her hair meets the face. This helps to give the hair dimension and keep it from looking like a helmet. The hair is not hooked in rows. Think about how hair grows and hook it that way.
I brought the hair forward on her face so that it would be in front of the ears.
Want to learn how to hook faces?
I am creating an online course that goes into a lot more detail. Watch me hook every stage of a face. This will be open for enrollment in Spring 2022.
Read all the posts about hooking Southern Woman
- Rughooking a face: How to hook the eye
- Hooking the Nose and Lips
- Adjusting the Forehead Shading
- Adding Hair
- Adding the Neck
- Adding the Sashing
- The Background
Cindi Gay Rug Hooking Newsletter

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Cindi,
Thanks for doing this tutorial on hooking faces. Like all of yours, you explained it in a way that I could understand and didnot have to be a master dyer to do.
Can’t wait for the rest of it. I have steered away from doing anything but four-legged critters so far. This could hep me consider a two-legged one some time.
trisha